Stat of the Week: ET3 Goes Holeshot to Checkers

In an unusual fashion, Tomac grabbed the holeshot and checked out, leading all laps of the main event before taking the checkered flag. Most fans would say they remember times Tomac fought from a bad start, caught, and passed the competition rather than the times he just got the lead immediately and ran away with the win. So, when was the last time ET3 got the holeshot and led all laps in a regular format main event win (excluding Triple Crown events)? The 2019 Las Vegas Supercross on May 4, 2019. Tomac holeshot then led all 22 laps of the main event before taking the win. Tomac won 14 regular format main events between that ’19 Las Vegas holeshot-to-checkered flag win and him doing the same at the 2022 Seattle Supercross. Saturday night was the ninth time in his 38 regular format 450SX main event wins that ET3 holeshot, led all laps in the main event, and took the win. His previous eight occurrences of holeshot-to-checkered flag were with Monster Energy Kawasaki.

Tomac’s 5-Race Win Streak

Tomac is on a five-race winning streak, and while it might not be the longest in history, it does tie the longest of the Colorado native’s career in the premier class. As I mentioned last week, back in 2017 Tomac rattled off five straight wins in the middle of the season, and his win in Washington over the weekend gave him five consecutive and seven total wins in 2022. For fun, we will compare his two winning streaks.

ET3's 2017 5-Race Win streak

ET3's 2022 5-Race Win streak

Note: The three-race Triple Crown format was first introduced for the 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.

Even though we have had two Triple Crown events that Tomac has won in his five-race win streak in 2022, Tomac led more laps in his five-race win streak in 2017. But the key here is that after his fifth win in 2017, he sat second in points, down four to Ryan Dungey. Dungey would eventually claim the championship that year by just five points over Tomac. In 2022, Tomac leaves his fifth consecutive win with a 54-point lead (over two full races!) over P2 Jason Anderson. Will ET3 get his sixth win in a row at the next race in St. Louis and break his longest winning streak?

Following ET3's 2017 5-Race Win Streak

Following ET3's 2022 5-Race Win Streak

Win-Less Webb

Speaking about streaks, Cooper Webb is hoping to end one soon. Webb, a two-time 450SX Champion who last won at the 2021 finale, has yet to pick up a main event win through the first 12 rounds of 2022, so his longest win-less streak since his maiden 450SX win continues.

Déjà Vu

While the conditions were completely different from the 2018 Seattle Supercross (a complete mudder) and the 2022 Seattle Supercross, the 450SX podium was exactly the same both years.

Jerry’s Kit of the Week

Although Jerry Robin was sidelined for the race at Lumen Field due to his shoulder injury, Robin and his crew had a sweet Seattle Seahawks kit set up for their “sport series” gear.

GoPro Videos

GoPro: Justin Barcia - 2022 Monster Energy Supercross - Seattle - 450 Main Event Highlights

Post-Race Penalty Report

Rider Vlogs

Christian Craig

Alex “Troll Train" Martin

Garrett Marchbanks

Quotes From The Paddock

450SX

Malcolm Stewart | 4th

“I felt good all day. I didn’t get the best start in the Main Event and I was sitting in fourth and Marvin was right there for third, so the last lap I tried to make a little pass and one of the lapped riders ended up going inside and kind of screwed me up and I went down. Overall, I felt good, I just wasn’t fast enough to get on the podium tonight. I’m glad we ended on a better note than last weekend, so we’re going to take what we learned and go from there.”

Justin Barcia | 5th

“It felt awesome to win the heat race – the bike was ripping! We made a few changes for the Main Event and got a second-place start. Me and Eli checked out, running a good pace and I just got a little off the line, landed on a tuf block and went flipping. I’m super disappointed in that but I was riding my heart out and ended up fifth. My bike was already torn up after that crash and I managed the race as good as I could. All-in-all, I’m just happy with the positives on the day. It’s a bummer on the crash but we’ll be back in St. Louis to go for the win.”

Cooper Webb | 6th

“Seattle was a bit of a tough day and into the night. I had a pretty bad practice crash that left me pretty banged up on the opposite shoulder, which is never great. I got Dr. G to help me and we got dialed in for the night show. In the heat race, I had a malfunction where the holeshot device came undone so I got a pretty bad start. I didn’t go great in the heat race, which left me with a bad gate pick for the Main Event and I did what I could with a bad start to charge back into sixth.”

Dean Wilson | 7th

"My riding was pretty good for the most part. In the main, I was in the top-five mix for a few laps, which was cool. I wasn’t too far away from top-five at the end but my arms got really tight in the last few minutes, just lack of good lines and flow on the track. It’s frustrating but I did some things well and I just have to learn from that and ride like I know how to and I can definitely be in that top-five.”

Justin Bogle | 8th

"The first half of the main was strong, I was riding well. I made a couple mistakes, got a little tight, and kind of struggled through the second half. But all things considered we're making progress and we got through with another single digit, so we'll take that. The team's really rallying behind me and I'm excited about that. We'll just keep trying to improve and try to get that second half of the main little more like the first half."

Brandon Hartranft | 10th

"I had a decent gate pick for the main but had a bad jump off the gate. I literally came from about 19th to tenth. I rode my butt off. It's been an awesome first 12 weeks of the season. We moved up to 11th in the points and I can't thank the team enough. I'm ready to have a week off and build for St. Louis."

Chase Sexton | DNS Night Show

“Seattle wasn’t very good for me. I had a big get-off in the second qualifying session; I mis-shifted on a three-on and ended up in neutral, and went over the bars, which didn’t feel great. I hit my back pretty hard and was overall shaken up, so we decided to sit out the night. Overall, I feel pretty good [on Monday]. My body’s a little sore, but I’m excited to get back to work, address any issues and get back at it in St. Louis.”

Said Honda HRC team manager Lars Lindstrom:

“It was a rough day for us as a team with Chase having a huge crash in practice. Luckily, he seems to be relatively okay, but he wasn’t able to race tonight because of being beat up and not feeling 100%. That stings a little bit, but luckily we were able to have Hunter pull through and have an incredible race to take the win, which definitely saved the night for us. We’re going to regroup, do what we can to get Chase in the shape that he needs to be in for the next race, and come out swinging at the next one.”

250SX

Jo Shimoda | 4th

“It was great to be back racing with my team after several weeks of recovery. I had limited time back on the bike, so our expectations were measured coming into this weekend. I was able to improve my speed through the qualifying sessions and the heat race, and by the main event I felt ready to challenge for the podium. I came away with fourth place which is a good result given the situation but, it’s always a little bittersweet when you come that close to a podium finish.”

Jalek Swoll | 8th

“It was a tough one, I feel like it could have been a better night if I had a better start. I got into the back of the pack, somewhere around last, and could only make it up to eighth. It’s frustrating, so I’m going to go back to the practice track, put in some work on my starts and come back after the break and be better.”